Donation of 1906 band coat by David J. Davidson '53
Celebrating 100 years of the Music Department....
 |
| Davidson '53 donating his father's band uniform |
Rarely does a donation come along that invokes such gratitude or excitement in the College Archives. Recently, David J. Davidson '53 donated to the Archives a band coat that was worn by his father, David Davidson, an Academy graduate of 1908. During the month of July 1906, David Sr. toured with the St. Olaf Band in Norway as a clarinet player. What a thrill it must have been for a young man of eighteen years to travel by boat across the ocean with 45 other boys. Many of whom would become seasick. The band played before the King and Queen of Norway in the Palace Garden. They also played for the Premier of Norway at his estate in Bergen. Apparently, two "moving pictures" were made of the band, but archivists in Norway have not been able to find any surviving prints.
 |
| 1906 St. Olaf Band (Davidson Sr. is far left with indicating arrow) |
Drum roll...for the surest tidbit of the tour...a first for Norwegians--an American baseball game played by St. Olaf Band members. P.G. Schmidt recounts the game in his book, "My Years at St. Olaf":
Then there was a much publicized "baseball' game to be played by two nines of band boys. Baseball had never been played in Norway and people were anxious to have an opportunity to see what the great American pastime really was like. A good size crowd turned out for the game....a fencing mask was borrowed from somewhere to serve as a catcher's mask. So far as we were able to judge from remarks made after the game, most people in the audience thought the game too dangerous, especially catching high flies. Nor did they understand what it was all about. (pgs. 37-38).
--J. Sauve
Assoc. College Archivist
